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BEIJING — China has found two more cases of a new strain of bird flu, and one of the victims has
died, state media said yesterday, bringing to nine the number of confirmed human infections from
the previously unknown flu type.

A 38-year-old cook fell ill early last month while working in the province of Jiangsu, where
five of the other cases were found. He died in a hospital in Hangzhou city on March 27, the Xinhua
news agency reported. Samples tested positive yesterday for the new bird flu strain, H7N9.

The second patient, also in Hangzhou, is a 67-year-old who is undergoing treatment. Xinhua said
no connection between the two cases had been discovered, and no one in close contact with either
patient had developed any flulike symptoms.

The World Health Organization said it was “following the event closely” and was in contact with
Chinese authorities, who it said were actively investigating the cases amid heightened disease
surveillance.

Flu experts throughout the world are studying samples isolated from the patients to assess H7N9’s
human pandemic potential.

Other strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years and can be
transmitted from bird to bird, and bird to human, but generally not from human to human.

So far, this lack of human-to-human transmission also appears to be a feature of the H7N9
strain.

Of the seven other cases of the new strain, two have died, both in the business hub of Shanghai.
The other five are in critical condition in a hospital in Nanjing. Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou
are all close to one another in eastern China.

China’s Agriculture Ministry said it had yet to find any animals infected with H7N9, although it
added it was possible the flu had been brought to China by migratory birds.

The WHO says so far it has seen no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but there are
questions about the source of the infection and about how it might be being transmitted to
people.

No vaccine is available for H7N9 flu, but preliminary test results provided by the WHO
Collaborating Centre in China suggest it is susceptible to the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and
Relenza.